Together the events underscore pressure on the powerful dockworkers' union and its leaders, who face difficult grain contract talks as some members criticize them for caving in to employers. If anything McEllrath's misdemeanor conviction bolsters his reputation among union members whose walkout displays unity consistent with their slogan: "An injury to one is an injury to all."

But employers emboldened by increasing legal restrictions on organized labor are pushing unions harder than ever in contract talks, said

, an expert at Fordham University in New York. Rhomberg, a sociology professor who wrote a book on a Detroit newspaper strike, cites a decreasing number of strikes nationwide.

"It used to be the two sides came to the table to reach a deal and the last resort was a strike," said Rhomberg. "Nowadays one side comes to the table trying to reach a deal," he said of unions, "and the other side comes to the table trying to get rid of the table."

Both the walkout Friday and controversy over the current grain talks have roots in Longview, Wash., where longshoremen held protests that turned violent last year. Managers of the first new U.S. grain terminal built in 25 years tried to hire workers from another union instead of longshoremen.

Prosecutors accused McEllrath of directing a large crowd of dockworkers and supporters to protest the hirings by blocking the arrival of a grain train last year at Longview's Export Grain Terminal, or EGT. In June, a jury failed to reach a verdict on the charges of obstructing a train. But on Friday after a retrial, another jury found McEllrath guilty.

McEllrath, a longshoreman from Vancouver, told the judge he wasn't sorry, according to the union.

"I have no regrets for leading my men and women against corporate greed," McEllrath was quoted as saying. "What's happening in this country against the middle class is wrong."

After the train protest and other demonstrations last year, longshore leaders negotiated a contract with EGT that included major concessions, allowing the company to bypass the union hiring hall. The concessions infuriated some union members, who called McEllrath and other leaders "business unionists" who had more in common with employers than workers.

Now the grain terminal owners want the same concessions in their next contract.

on the union Web site, Sundet described the grain handlers' contract as a mature agreement built on 80 years of negotiations with highly profitable companies.

"The EGT contract will build in subsequent negotiations," Sundet said. "The industry moguls are mistaken in thinking they can take advantage of a new competitor to downgrade their own successful contract."